Chapter 12 - Science! (CitC)
"Well?" Bowser prompted when Tubba was silent. "You can know in advance it's going to be no!" "Over something that happened ten years ago?" Tubba slammed his club against the hard stone floor. "Don't you want to win the war against the Mushroom Kingdom?" "Not over something that happened ten years ago!" Bowser roared, firing up. The Koopa King was quite intimidating when angry: smoke rings puffing out of his nose, licks of flame escaping his jaws, his claws glinting and twitching with fury. "The Mushroom Kingdom is attacking my Kingdom with resources they got from your Kingdom, attempting to make us a sub-Kingdom again!" Bowser stomped the floor, making the tapestries on the wall shake. "So let's fight together!" Tubba countered, hoping Bowser would see sense. We'd be much stronger together. "There's one issue with that plan, Tubba!" Bowser snarled, puffing smoke out of his nose at such a rate that he looked like an addicted smoker. "There's no "we" with you! It's just you! You don't have a single soldier with you. How do you expect me to ally myself with you, when you're just one, fat, overweight Clubba! If we take back your land, it won't be because of you and the Clubbas, it'll be because of my Koopas!" Tubba closed his mouth, which had been open to retort. It was true. He was just one Clubba. How had he expected the Koopa Kingdom would split the winnings evenly, or split them at all? "But..." Bowser spoke gentler, perhaps knowing that he had won the argument. "I don't object to you joining the Koopa Troop. You can work with Ludwig and Iggy in the science sector." The Koopa King sat back on his throne, his orange hair glowing in the torchlight. Tubba gave a curt nod. There was no way he was going to win this argument, and Bowser had found a decent solution. He would work with the Koopa Kingdom... but the Clubba Kingdom could be lost forever. Turning away from Bowser, Tubba's mind was whirling. The gears were whirring as fast they could; the Koopa Kingdom would never concede territory if they had to. I'll have to double-cross them after we win a major battle and get the Clubbas back... ''Tubba thought, walking out the door. ''Working with Ludwig and Iggy... the last time I saw them, I fought Ludwig, and won. Waiting for him outside the door was Lemmy, balancing on his yellow ball. "Well, how'd it go, Tubba? What did you talk about?" "I asked your father to join the Koopa Troop." Tubba said, telling Lemmy another half-truth. Looking past the Koopaling down the hallway deeper into the castle, he began searching for an indication of where Ludwig and Iggy's lab was. "How'd it go?" Lemmy asked, seemingly unconcerned with Tubba's search, twirling his orange ponytail absentmindedly with a claw. "I'm in. Listen, where's Ludwig and Iggy's lab?" Tubba asked, impatience lacing his tone. "The quickest way is probably through Ludwig's room in the basement." Lemmy screwed his face up as he thought. "Come on, I'll take you to our rooms down below." But before Lemmy could show Tubba, the sound of heavy feet on stone echoed through the hallway the two of them were standing in. Rounding the corner was another Iglator, a bald pink head, hot pink sunglasses and a purple shell, his biceps bulging with excess muscle. It was Roy, the third-eldest Koopaling. He was closer to Tubba's age, only slightly more than a year older than Tubba, having had his 25th birthday recently. "Oy, Lemster!" Roy called as he drew up close to Tubba and Lemmy. "Wendy reckons dat it was you who soiled 'er bedroom! Who're you?" He added brusquely to Tubba. As Tubba opened his mouth to respond, Roy waved a clawed hand in his direction. "Ye, I reckon I don't care. Lemmy, unless ya don't like your tail where it is, I think ya should get up to Wendy's room." Lemmy's eyes filled with shock and fear. "Yeah, I think I can tell her she's got the wrong Koopa..." Lemmy muttered, rolling his ball down another hallway, leaving Tubba alone with Roy. "Roy, I'm Tubba, I'm trying to get to your brothers' lab. Can you show me? Lemmy was going to." Tubba tried, inwardly cursing Roy for taking Lemmy- a good guide- away from him. Roy gaped at him, showing his top two teeth. "Yer a Clubba! Yer supposed to be fat an' lazy! What da hell do ya need in Luds' lab?" Bristling at Roy's jibe against Clubba's, Tubba kept his voice cool despite the indignation. "I've been assigned to work in the science sector. Can you please show me?" Roy sighed. "I was gonna go bother Big Mouth Morts, but if ya say so." Turning away from Tubba, the hulking figure of Roy led the way down the same hallway that Lemmy went down. This hallway was a lot gloomier than the other hallways, and much smaller, making it impossible for Roy and Tubba to walk side by side. Roy's bulk and Tubba's weight would get stuck in the tiny hallway. "What's this path? Aren't we going to the basement?" Tubba asked, feeling his scales brush uncomfortably against the close walls. "I'm taking ya down a shor'cut. No one 'ere knows these 'allways like me!" Regretfully, all Tubba could do was take Roy's word for it. Glaring at the pink head leading him down the hallways, he kept pace with Roy. Soon, the small hallway opened up into a larger hallway, but this larger hallway was completely deserted. Again, questions popped into Tubba's head, but Roy didn't seem to be the type who liked to answer questions. ''Where are we in reference to the throne room? Where's the nearest exterior wall? Are we even still on the ground floor? ''Tubba thought he felt the floor sloping downward as he walked down the smaller hallway. ''Why is this hallway completely empty? '' Suddenly, Roy halted. Pointing with one, yellow-scaled, clawed finger, he pointed at a dark wooden door. "Dat's the one. Dat's the one dat'll take ya to da lab. Thank meh later." Pulling open the door, Tubba instantly knew Roy had tricked him. For one, it wasn't another hallway or even the lab. It was a tiny room that was completely empty, built out of the same hard stone as the rest of the castle, but that was all Tubba saw before the door closed behind, shrouding him in complete darkness. A lock clicked behind him. Beyond the door, Roy was whooping with delight. "Ya dumb? Ya walk into a door and expect it ta be the lab? Ya got a ROYal issue now! Trapped in da royal closet, an' hardly anyone comes down dis 'allway! Yer stupid! Someone shud make dis a science! Trappin' losers!" "ROY!" Tubba bellowed as he heard the footsteps retreating. "ROY!" He was furious now, slamming himself against the door with a thud. It didn't give. ''Surely someone can hear me? ''"ROY!" He roared again, but he could no longer hear footsteps. "ROY!" Tubba howled one last time, knowing it was pointless. He had got himself trapped by the dumbest Koopaling.